My Town

MHS volleyball team headed to playoffs despite seeding mix-up

by Wes Bowers, Milpitas Post

Posted:
11/08/2012 11:27:07 AM PST

The Milpitas High School varsity volleyball team is headed to the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs after picking up a 3-1 victory against Fremont High School in the final match of the season Nov. 1

The Lady Trojans won at home 25-17, 20-25, 25-10 and 25-9. Pilar Ferguson and Taylor Davis both had seven kills.

Milpitas lost to Saratoga High School Oct. 30 in Saratoga 3-2 by scores of 20-25, 25-16, 17-25, 25-20 and 15-9. Ferguson led with eight kills on the night.

"We had a 2-1 lead in that one, and we thought we had them," head coach Jeff Lamb said. "But that fourth game went back and forth... and we just had a horrible hitting night."

He said Milpitas had 21 kills but made 35 hitting errors against Saratoga.

The Lady Trojans finished the regular season 14-20 overall and 6-4 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's El Camino Division for a third place standing.

Milpitas faced a 20-13 San Benito High School Squad Nov. 7 in Hollister to open the postseason. Scores were too late to print.

Milpitas almost did not make the postseason due to a scoring error, according to Lamb.

The Lady Trojans were supposed to earn four points for a win against Live Oak High School during the Spikefest II tournament Oct. 27, but only received two after scores were incorrectly reported to the league office.

Lamb said he did not catch the error until a league meeting Nov. 2. Typically only 54 teams in the Central Coast Section are allowed in the playoffs, but league officials decided to allow Milpitas in as a rare 55th seed.

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Had the error been caught earlier, Milpitas would have been seeded 54th for the playoffs. Lamb said he did not want to accept entry into the postseason if that meant eliminating Carmel High School, which was seeded 54th by Nov. 2.

Lamb said bumping Carmel, which beat the Trojans twice during the regular season, wouldn't have been fair.

"I didn't want to leapfrog over them because they played so well against us this year," he said. "So we will be the 55th seed, and it's a win-win for everybody."

Lamb said Milpitas would have faced San Benito even with a 54th seeding.

The winner goes on to play the 24-7 Menlo-Atherton High School Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at Menlo Atherton. The victor in that match-up will move onto the CCS semifinals Nov. 14 at Santa Clara High School at either 5:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.

Also playing Wednesday night was the 14-15 Monta Vista High School and a 22-8 Santa Teresa High School squad. The winner of that game will move on to play 22-8 Salinas High School in Salinas at 7 p.m. The victor moves on to the semifinals to face the winner of the Menlo-Atherton match-up.

The Division I finals will be Nov. 17 at Independence High School. Game time has not been announced.

Contact Wes Bowers at wbowers@themilpitaspost.com or 408-262-2454. Visit us on our social media sites at facebook.com/milpitas post and twitter.com/milpitaspost.